Astros Stats

Well, no one said they didn't like it, so here is week 2 of Astros Stats. Remember, these are not intended to be important, meaningful or predictive. Just interesting. To me.

1. Lets all marvel at the amazing season Rick Ankiel has had so far, while we still can. In 28 PA, he has put exactly 8 balls in play, one ground ball, three line drives and four fly balls. Three of those fly balls  have left the ballpark. He has two other hits, which means he has as many home runs on the season as he does batted ball outs. And 20 strikeouts. We can't forget about the 20 strikeouts.

2. Matt Dominguez's defense certainly hasn't gotten any worse. He now finds himself alone atop the leader boards for UZR with 5.0. And not just for third baseman. According to UZR, Matt Dominguez has been the best defensive player, at any position, in all of baseball in the early going. Even though he is providing nothing with the bat, putting up an abysmal .231/.273/.288 line, he has still accumulated .3 fWAR in just 14 games, making him the fifth best third baseman in the AL so far.

3. The Astros have gotten beat in every way imaginable by the A's so far. Let's look more closely at one particular way. Astros starters, in the 6 games against the A's, pitched a total of 18.5 innings. In those 18.5 innings, Astros starters gave up a total of 31 runs. By way of comparison, the Atlanta Braves have also given up 31 runs, total, on the season. All told, the A's have hit .290/.393/.498 against Astros pitching this season. Adrian Gonzalez hit .298/.393/.511 in 2010. He placed 4th in the MVP voting that year.

4. Down on the farm, Nolan Fontana has walked 16 times in 67 PA, tops in the minors (excluding the Mexican League). In all of professional baseball, Fontana is 2nd, behind only Joey Votto's 24.  In 289 plate appearances in his professional career, Fontana has walked 81 times, for an absurd 28% walk rate. I am fairly convinced that Fontana could start in the majors right now and post a league average on base percentage.